First Date
by parsda
Summary: Just a little something that popped into my head and I can't get rid of it! As for my other stories that are in progress, I know, I know, I know. I need to finish them before starting something else, but I can't help myself!
1. Chapter 1

First Date

Stephanie looked up when she heard someone approaching her desk. She'd been hard at work for a few hours, running searches and reading over the results, for a couple of potential new hires for RangeMan. She gave a smile when she saw it was Ranger standing by her desk.

"Hey Ranger, what's up?" she asked. He tugged a loose curl behind her ear and smiled at her. "Babe, do you have any plans for the afternoon? I have an offsite meeting to check on some problems and I thought you'd like to go with me."

She glanced at the stack of files on her desk and sighed. "I'd love to get away for the afternoon, but this stack needs to get done today before I leave. Maybe some other time, okay?" Ranger looked sad for a brief moment before he said, "Sure Babe, I understand. I heard your boss is a real hard-ass." She chuckled and said, "Thanks for asking me though." He reached down again stroking her cheek gently and nodded, walking back into his office.

Sitting down in his desk, he called Tank and asked him to take the meeting in his place. He really wanted to spend the afternoon with Steph, and if she wouldn't go, then neither would he. Steph had been working for him fulltime for almost six months and in that time, he'd been gone about half of it for a mission and since he'd been back, she seemed to place some distance between the two of them, even though he had heard from Lester that it ended between Steph and the cop, almost as soon as he left town.

He flipped the monitor to the camera that was pointed at her desk. She was sitting there, staring blankly at the computer screen and rubbing her hand over the cheek he had just touched. He watched her let out a big sigh and then started back on her work. He tried to get his pile of paperwork done the rest of the day, but he was constantly checking the screen to see what Stephanie was doing.

He finally gave up for the day when he checked the screen and saw Steph had already left. He closed up his computer and shut the door to his office before taking the stairs to his apartment on the top floor of the building. Dropping his keys in the bowl by the door, he headed into the kitchen and grabbed the food Ella had left in the warming oven. He grabbed a bottle of beer and headed into the living room to eat. He turned the television on and flipped through the channels while eating. Giving up on the channels, he got up and pulled out a dvd that he had hidden in a book. He put the dvd in and sat back to watch. He watched about an hour before he realized Tank was sitting on the couch next to him.

"Any reason you're watching a loop of office videos?" asked Tank. Ranger glanced at him and said nothing. He just continued to watch. Tank went to the kitchen and came back with beer for both of them. He sat back down and still Ranger said nothing. "If you want to know, the meeting this afternoon was a bust. Something about the company is not quite right so I said we'd talk it over and get back to them. I think I'll have Steph run a check on them. She seems to find the quirky things in her search results." Still nothing from Ranger.

"Man, did you lose your voice today?" Ranger flipped him a hand gesture and finished the bottle of beer. Tank had been watching the video that was playing before he finally pieced together what he was seeing. The entire video was a conglomeration of clips that Stephanie was in. "Shit man, you've turned into another one of her stalkers." Ranger's head shot up and turned to look at Tank. "What did you say?" he asked. Tank sat and shook his head at his best friend.

" . . . Man, you have it bad. Why don't you just ask her out? The cop's been gone for months and there's been no one else." Ranger shook his head and said, "I tried today and she turned me down." "Well, obviously you did it wrong. For some strange reason, that girl is nuts about you. What did you say?" "I asked if she wanted to get out of the office this afternoon and go to the meeting with me. I thought we could spend the afternoon together and then we'd stop and eat somewhere on the way back to the building." Tank shook his head and sighed, "You asked her to go to a meeting with you? God, do you need to get Lester to give you some dating advice? Well, obviously she turned you down since I had to go instead. What did she say?"

Ranger sighed, "She said that she had a stack of searches to get done today and thanked me for asking, but she should stay and work." Tank looked at him and laughed. "Well, you shithead, you gave her the work that had to get done today. They were the new batch of applicants for the new positions, here and in Miami. Remember you want to get the interviews done here as quickly as possible and then head to Miami to do the same thing?" Tank shook his head and said, "You are really hopeless, you know that?" He put his beer bottle down on the coffee table and walked towards the door. "Figure out how to ask like a man and not a boss and I'm sure she'll agree. Find something she loves and take her to it." He walked out the door, muttering to himself.

Ranger sat and thought about what Tank had said. He headed back down to his office and reviewed the video from his visit to Steph's desk. He sat at his desk and shook his head at himself on the screen. God, he was an idiot. What was he thinking? Asking her to attend a meeting with him. Did he really think that would be a date? What did Tank say? Find something she likes and take her? He sat and thought for a while and then snapped his fingers in delight. He had the perfect idea and it would only take a few phone calls to make it happen.

It ended up taking the rest of the week to get everything coordinated and when he got the final confirmation email on Wednesday morning, he sent Steph an instant message and asked her to come into his office when she had a minute. He watched her on the monitor and she pushed away from her desk and stood up. He quickly switched displays on the monitor and responded to her knock with, "Come in Babe." She laughed as she walked in, "How did you know it was me?" He smiled and gestured for her to sit down. "Your knock is much softer than the guys and you're about the only one here that actually knocks, most of them just come in."

She sat down and looked at him, causing him to stare at her. They stared at each other for a minute before she said, "Did you ask me in here for a reason or just to stare at me?" That seemed to snap him out of his daze and he said, "I wanted to see if you were free this weekend. I am going to run down to North Carolina and wondered if you want to go with me." Now it was her turn to stare. "You want me to spend the weekend with you in North Carolina?" He nodded, "Yes, I'm going to meet up with some friends from my active duty days. Most of the guys are married now or have girlfriends, so they are all bringing them with and they suggested that I bring a guest. The company has a safe house on the beach and I decided to host a reunion of sorts. I want you to be my guest."

She looked at him skeptically and said, "You want me, disaster prone me, to go away for the weekend with you and meet your friends?" He nodded, "Yes, that's what I said, isn't it?" She shook her head and said, "Are you sure?" He looked at her and said, "Babe, I wouldn't ask if I wasn't sure." They sat for a minute in quiet and finally he said, "Well?" She laughed and said, "I'm crazy for doing this, but YES, I'll go with you and meet your friends. But I'm warning you, I'm not responsible if anything crazy happens. When do we leave?" He stood up and pulled her up and hugged her, kissing the spot under her ear that he knew she loved. She sighed when he did that and pulled back to look at him. "We need to leave in the morning. It's about an 8 hour drive from here. Most of the guys will be arriving on Friday morning and I'd like to be there the day before to get the house opened up and all of the food and drinks bought before the guys get there. We'll stay through Sunday and drive home on Monday. I'm sure your boss will let you have Thursday and Monday off of work." She stared at him, "You expect me to pack for a weekend away with you and meet your friends and not have time to shop for it?" He shook his head and pulled his wallet out of his pocket. He handed her a credit card and said, "Take the afternoon off and go crazy at the mall." He kissed the top of her head and gently pushed her out the door. "I'll pick you up tomorrow morning at 7:00. That's AM Babe, as in 7:00 in the morning." He laughed at her and then went back into his office and shut the door. Sitting down in his chair, he smiled. Part One was complete and now to call in one last favor.


	2. Chapter 2

Note - I was able to visit my daughter last weekend at her university in Virginia. I was happy to finally see Tastycakes in a store and upon opening the box, I can understand Steph's love for the little cakes of goodness. Before I knew it, I had eaten three packages!

Ranger let himself into Steph's apartment about 6:45 the next morning. He could hear her talking to the rat she kept in a cage in the kitchen. He heard her say that her nieces were coming over each day to check on him and he was not to bite any of the girls. He shook his head at the conversation. He slinked up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist and said in her ear, "Do you really think the rat can understand you Babe?" She turned in his arms and wrapped her arms around his neck. "He listens as much as he wants to and when he's had enough, he goes into his soup can." She gave him a kiss on the cheek and slipped out of his arms before he could pull her closer.

"Let me go get my bags and then I'll be ready to go. Could you put the rest of the coffee into the travel mug for me and rinse out the pot?" He agreed and filled her mug. He had a bottle of water in the car and that was enough for him. He planned to stop for breakfast in a few hours, but he wanted to get going and miss the work traffic rush. She came out of her bedroom pulling a suitcase and carrying a duffle bag. She picked up the mug of coffee and grabbed her purse, which to Ranger was the size of the bag he brought for the weekend. He grabbed the suitcase from her and waited in the hall while she locked up. They got in the elevator and headed downstairs.

He opened the trunk of the car he had brought and put her suitcase inside. She looked in as she put the duffle bag and only noticed one other small bag. "Ranger, is that the only bag you brought?" He nodded and she asked, "Do you have clothes at the beach house?" He opened her door and ushered her inside the car. Once she was seated, he leaned in, gave her a gentle kiss and said, "No." He walked around to get in the car and when he sat down and looked at her, he could see she was puzzled. "Babe?" She shook her head at him and said, "Ranger, one small bag? How can you possibly have everything you need for 4 days in that small bag?" He just laughed and they drove off.

They stopped for breakfast south of Washington DC. Once they got back into the car, Steph decided the silence needed to end. "Okay, Ranger. We have a few hours left and the silence is killing me. Talk to me, please?" "Babe, what do you want to talk about?" She laughed, "Anything, anything at all. Why don't you tell me about growing up as Ricky Manoso." He looked at her and raised one eyebrow, "Ricky?" She laughed, "Didn't they call you Ricky? Surely you weren't known as Ranger that early, were you?" He tipped his head back and laughed. "No Babe, I wasn't called Ricky. My parents called me by my given name, Carlos. My siblings called me many things, but 'hey you' was what I heard most of the time. I am the baby of the family and most of my siblings were already in high school by the time I was born." She looked at him and smiled. "Baby of the family, huh? Welcome to the club. Do your siblings have perfect lives, just like my sister does?" He laughed and said, "Well, there are two doctors, one attorney, one chef and then me, the ex-gang banger turned Special Forces soldier." She looked at him and said, "You have a chef in the family and I've never met them before?" He smiled and shook his head at her, while picking up her hand and giving it a kiss.

She grilled him about his younger years for the rest of the ride. He turned into the neighborhood where the safe house was located. He noticed that she was staring out the window, not saying a word. He pulled into the circular driveway of the last house on the street. He parked and got out and walked over to her door. He opened it and grabbed her hand to pull her out. "This is a safe house?" He nodded and keeping a hold of her hand, he walked her to the front door. He punched in the code on the door handle and opened the door. Her mouth hung open the entire tour of the house and when he finally opened the patio door and led her out onto the deck, she finally spoke. "Ranger, this is amazing. The ocean is right here, right out your back door." Before he could answer, she had taken her shoes off and headed towards the water.

He caught up to her as she was letting the water skim over her toes. He came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist. He was nuzzling her neck and she sighed. "This is perfect." He kissed a trail around her neck and turned her gently so she was facing him. He lowered his mouth down to hers and gently kissed her. He rested his forehead on hers and sighed. "Babe."


	3. Chapter 3

The spent a little more time on the beach before heading back into the house. Ranger showed her the bedrooms that were available and then asked her to pick one. She looked at him and smiled, "Can I stay with you?" He leaned down, kissed her softly and said, "Of course Babe. I didn't want to just assume and I wanted you to be the one to make the decision." He brought their bags upstairs and they quickly unpacked before heading out to the car.

He drove them to the nearest Costco and they headed in with Steph laughing at him. "What?" "Batman has a Costco card?" He shook his head and grabbed one of the flatbed carts, pushing it towards her. "Babe, do you realize just how much Ella buys to keep RangeMan running? I think the only thing she doesn't buy from Costco is our uniforms." He scooped Stephanie up and set her on the flatbed and then took off pushing down the first aisles. As they shopped, Steph was able to pull more information out of him about the people coming the next day.

"Babe, most of the guys coming are from an elite parachute team that I've worked with in the past. Most are not doing missions anymore, but still travel around doing demonstrations. As we've gotten older, we've all gotten out of the mission side of things and settled into our new lives. Some have married and most of the single guys have girlfriends and I just found out that two of the guys are dating each other now." She laughed and said, "I guess that was a surprise?" He shook his head, "No, I always thought something was going on between them, but didn't ask any questions. Not my place to draw attention to them but I did make sure it didn't cause any issues on the missions.

"So, we should see about 3 guys with their wives, 2 with serious girlfriends and 2 guys dating each other. So, with us that makes 14 people total. I think we should have enough space between the bedrooms available and the lower level rec room that has a couple of pullout couches." He looked over to see Steph staring at him, "Babe?" "Fourteen people Ranger? That's not just a couple of friends, that's like a big chunk of RangeMan." "Babe, they are harmless and because you're with me, there will be no issues. Just use your Babe charm and you'll have them under your spell, just like you have all of the Merry Men under your spell at home."

They filled up the cart with beer, pop, water, salad mixings, corn on the cob, steaks, burgers, chops, hot dogs, chips, fruit, bagels, cereal, milk, juice and yogurt. Before Ranger could stop her, Steph added bacon, cheese, cookies, muffins and cakes to the cart. He looked at her and she just shrugged, "What? I need food too." He shook his head at her and headed towards the front. They passed by the movie section and he picked out a few of the newer action movies and she picked out some of the more girl-friendly movies. They headed up to pay and Ranger added lots of bags of ice to the cart before paying. Steph's eyes widen at the total amount of everything, but Ranger didn't even blink at the total. They loaded up the car and headed back towards the house, arriving about the same time as a familiar looking SUV.

Ranger parked in front of the house and before Steph could get out, Lester threw open her car door and pulled her out and swung her around. "Hey beautiful, fancy seeing you here." Steph made him put her down and she said grabbed onto the car to stop the spinning in her head. Finally she said, "Les, what are you doing here?" "Well, I am part of the group that was invited. Although, I don't know why I had to drive by myself." He shot a look at Ranger who just glared at him. "You're not supposed to be here until tomorrow." Lester laughed and said, "Ella heard what you were doing and went all out. The back of the SUV is full of food." Together, the three managed to haul everything in from Costco and what Ella sent. The counters in the kitchen were overflowing with food, food of all sorts. Steph's stomach grumbled just looking at it all. Ranger laughed and said, "Let's get some of this put away and then we can eat." Lester helped carry the beer, pop and ice out to the garage to a huge freezer and refrigerator.

Once everything was put away, Ranger handed Steph her bag and said, "Let's go get some dinner", and started walking towards the door. Steph looked at Lester and said, "Les, do you want to join us?" Ranger stopped and looked back at Lester. Les shook his head and said, "Nope, I have to go pick someone up at the airport in a few hours and then we're staying at a hotel tonight so we can be alone." He headed out the door with them and once he got to his SUV said, "We'll see you tomorrow", and got in, driving away. Steph looked at Ranger, "We'll see you? Lester has a girlfriend? I thought he was a big ladies man?" Ranger let out a bark of laughter and opened her door. "Babe, you'll find out tomorrow. Let's go eat."


	4. Chapter 4

Ranger drove them to a seafood restaurant that was right along the ocean. The atmosphere was wonderful and Steph was overwhelmed with all of the choices on the menu. She ended up ordering a platter that had about ten different things on it and Ranger ordered the lobster. They shared a bottle of wine and talked for a bit after ordering. They both had salads and once the salad dishes were cleared, the server brought over a plastic lobster bib for Ranger and had it on him before he could decline it. Steph snapped a quick photo of him before he took it off. "Babe, you're treading on shaky ground right now, especially if you show that to anyone." She laughed and said, "Aw, you looked so cute in your bib." They both laughed and once their food arrived, talking was down to a minimum, mostly just Steph's moans about the food. Ranger shifted around in his seat a few time before looking at her and saying, "Babe, can you tone down the moans? I won't be able to get up from the table when we're done with dinner, especially if you get dessert and moan your way through that as well." Steph shook her head at him and said, "For once, I don't think I can eat dessert. I can't even finish all of this dinner."

Ranger paid the bill and they went out and went for a walk on the beach. He grabbed Steph's hand and intertwined their fingers and set off down the beach at a leisurely pace. Steph had kicked off her shoes and had them dangling off her fingers and was softly kicking through the waves. "Babe?" "Hummm?" Ranger chuckled and tried again, "Babe?" "Ranger?" Sighing he stopped walking and turned her so she was facing him. He tipped her chin up so he could look into her eyes and said, "Babe, thank you for coming with me for the weekend." He gave her a soft kiss and she hummed in agreement. "I'm glad it worked out and that my hard-assed boss gave me the time off." He reached behind her and swatted her on the backside, causing her to jump. "Hey, I didn't say you were a hard-ass, I said you had a hard-ass." They laughed and she dropped him hand and took off running down the beach. He slowly jogged behind her and it didn't take long to catch up to her. He grabbed her around the waist and swung her around. "Babe, you need to work on your running. You're out of breathe and barely made it a quarter of a mile." She stuck her tongue out at him, laughing. They headed back to the car and the entire way home, she grilled him about who Lester was picking up at the airport.

"Babe, I'm not saying anything. It's Lester's story to tell. I will tell you that you know the person and that's all I will say. No amount of torture will make me tell." "No amount?" He shook his head, "Nope, if I can withstand it in the military, there's no way you'll be able to break me." She gave him an evil grin and changed the subject. Ranger drove into the garage and they got out and walked into the house. Ranger locked up the doors and they headed upstairs. Steph headed into the bathroom to get changed for bed and Ranger headed down the hall to another bathroom. They ended up getting into bed about the same time and after a nice, soft goodnight kiss, Ranger turned off the lights and pulled Steph into his arms and they both drifted off to sleep.

Steph woke slowly in the morning and smiled when she felt the sunshine hitting her face. She opened her eyes and found that Ranger was laying on his side, facing her, and was wrapping one of her wild curls around his finger and letting it spring back when he let go. He smiled when he saw her eyes open and gently kissed her. "Morning Babe." She stretched and said, "Morning Batman." He chuckled and pulled her into his arms. Steph let out an almost purr sound and he kissed the top of her head. "Not a lot of time for lounging in bed Babe. I expect the first of the guys to show up anytime now. Lester should be over soon too. His hotel wasn't too far away from here." He glanced down at her and said, "And no, I'm not telling you who he's bringing." She stuck her bottom lip out in a pout and he leaned in and gave it a nip and then gave her a kiss. "Time to get up Babe. See you in the shower?" he asked hopeful. She shook her head and said, "No you won't. I'll see you in the kitchen in a bit." He chuckled and headed into the bathroom. Steph got up and pulled on a pair of sweatpants that she found in a drawer in the closet and headed down to the kitchen. She walked into the kitchen and started the coffee maker. She had her head stuck in the fridge, looking for the cream cheese to go with the bagels when she heard the back door knob jiggle. "Just a sec," she yelled and stood up, putting the cream cheese on the counter. She walked over to the kitchen door and pulled the door open.

"Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God!" she exclaimed. There was laughter behind her and Ranger walked up behind her. He put his arms around her from behind and said softly in her ear, "Now you see why I didn't tell you?" She couldn't say anything else and just stood there staring. Standing in front of her was Lester, who was passionately kissing….

**I'm evil, I know. I just haven't been able to decide who Lester is with..."


	5. Chapter 5

…Jeanne Ellen Burrows? Steph spun around and looked at Ranger. "What? Huh? What?" she stammered out. "Lester? Cat woman? What?" Ranger laughed and reached out to slap Lester on the head. "Hey, stop it and come inside before the neighbors report lewd behavior." Lester stepped inside, pulling Jeanne Ellen in behind him. He stopped to kiss Steph on the forehead and said, "Morning Beautiful. Did you make coffee?" Steph just stood, staring at him. Jeanne Ellen walked in and smiled at Steph. "Morning Stephanie. I can see by your expression that no one told you about me and Lester. Let's get some coffee and then we can sit down and talk while we let the guys make us breakfast." She reached out and took Steph's hand, leading her to the kitchen table.

For the next half hour, Jeanne Ellen told the story of her time in the military and all of the times she was sent different places, only to run into the guys. She worked with them many times and after one job that ended too close for comfort, they all got drunk and she ended up in bed with Lester. "And you are so glad it happened, aren't you baby?" Lester asked. She just shook her head and continued the story. "I'm currently finishing up my contract with the CIA and once it's completed, I am pretty sure that I'll be moving to the New Jersey area." She glanced at Lester when she said this and he nodded. Ranger set a plate down in front of each of the women and then returned with his plate. Lester joined them a minute later. Steph dug into her food and after a minute of silence, looked up to see the guys shifting in their chairs and Jeanne Ellen staring at her. "What?" "Oh my god, do you always sound so orgasmic when you eat?" Jeanne Ellen asked. Steph blushed and said, "I can't help it. I like food, especially food I don't have to cook." They all laughed and Lester said, "Beautiful, no one wants to eat what you cook. I've heard stories about how the rats wouldn't even eat it out of the dumpsters." Steph threw a piece of toast at him and of course, he grabbed it mid-air and just ate it with a smirk on his face. Ranger started talking about a mission they were on and some animals in the jungle that crossed their paths and how Lester screamed like a little girl the first time he saw a leopard. She laughed with them and once they were done eating, she headed into the bedroom to get dressed.

Ranger followed her and shut the door behind him. He spun her around into his arms and kissed her. "Babe, your breakfast sounds about did me in. I wanted to clear off the table and take you right there." She laughed and said, "Well, I've never had an audience before…" He roared with laughter and then helped her pick out some clothes for the day.

By the time they got back downstairs, Lester and Jeanne Ellen had cleaned up breakfast and had the dishwasher running. The guys headed outside to set up the volleyball net on one part of the beach and then drug out a load of beach chairs and stuck a few umbrellas in the ground. The girls sat in the kitchen and watched the guys out the patio windows. Jeanne Ellen sighed and said, "Look at those beautiful creatures out there. Isn't it wonderful that they are ours and not somebody else's?" Steph couldn't take her eyes off of Ranger. He had taken off his shirt and was dragging beach chairs out of a shed, muscles rippling.

Jeanne Ellen looked at her and laughed. "You have it bad for Ranger." Steph broke her gaze and looked at Jeanne Ellen. "What? No, I'm not with Ranger. He just invited me here for a weekend so I could get away from work." Her gaze moved back to the window and found that Ranger was staring at her, hands on his hips, with a smile on his face. Jeanne Ellen looked at Steph and then out the window at Ranger and then back to Steph. "Yeah, sure, just to get away from work. Shit, girl, open your eyes. That man, no that hot man outside wants you. I'm surprised you don't have a ring from him." Steph looked at her with wide eyes and shook her head, "No, he doesn't want me that way. He likes me only for the fun aspect. I'm his entertainment." Jeanne Ellen didn't pursue the conversation, but was going to talk to Lester about it. Anyone could see that Ranger loved Steph, and she thought it went the other way too, but something was off about what Steph said as to being his entertainment.

About an hour later, the doorbell rang and the girls went to answer it. Jeanne Ellen opened the door and was instantly grabbed and swung around. She laughed and said, "Put me down you big brute." The woman standing outside with the "big brute" just laughed and slapped him on the back of the head. "Jeff, put her down." Jeff put Jeanne Ellen down and looked over at Stephanie. "Well, well, well, what do we have here?" "Jeff, this is Stephanie Plum. Ranger brought her." Jeff whipped his head around and said, "Ranger brought a girl? Our Ranger?" Steph laughed and ushered both of them in the house. "Well, he's my Ranger now, but yes, he brought me. I'm Stephanie and we work together." She held out her hand and Jeff reached for it. "Well, hello pretty Stephanie. I'm Jeff." He leaned down and kissed her hand. The woman beside him smacked him in the head and said, "I'm his wife, Ashley. He apparently left his manners at home." Before Steph could say anything, she heard, "Soldier, get your hands off my woman." Jeff dropped her hand and reached out and grabbed Ranger and pulled him in for a manly hug. Ranger slapped him on the back and leaned over the give Ashley a hug and kiss on the cheek. "You are still hanging around this guy? I thought you were smarter than that Ash." She laughed and said, "Well, you aren't available so I have to stick with second best." They all laughed and Ranger led them into the house. He told them since they were one of the first to arrive, they could pick any open bedroom.

Before they could get too far into the house, there was a knock at the door and Steph opened it. There stood two more couples. She smiled and said, "Hi, I'm Stephanie and I came with Ranger. Come on in, he's just showing Jeff and Ashley to their bedroom." The four came in and set their bags down. The pretty blonde said, "I'm Liz and this is my husband, Ian." The other woman introduced themselves by saying, "I'm Jessica and this big oaf is my husband, Greg." Steph shook all of their hands and then Lester came in from the kitchen. He came over to greet the couples and told the couples to go find a bedroom and put their bags away. As they walked towards the stairs, Steph did a head count. Looks like they were only four people short of how many Ranger said were coming.


	6. Chapter 6

Note - sorry for the delay on this story, life got in the way.

Within the next hour, the last four people had arrived. Ethan and his girlfriend Sarah were adorable, always touching and constantly finishing each other's sentences. Steph was most surprised by the two guys who were dating and not because they were gay, she had friends who were gay. It was because they were polar opposites of one another. Alex looked like he could be another of the Merry Men, as did the other guys that were here, but it was Drew who she was most curious about because he looked nothing like he belonged with this group. Where most of the Merry Men were tall and muscular, Drew was average height and didn't look like he was much stronger than Steph, he didn't have bulging muscles like the other guys.

Soon, the crowd moved into the backyard, some out in the yard goofing around, while others gathered on the deck, sitting in the shade, having a drink. Steph helped carry out some snacks to nibble on while Ranger and Lester attempted to get the grill started and burgers going for lunch. It didn't take too long for Ashley to push Ranger and Lester out of the way and take over the grill. Ranger came over and held out his hand to Steph, pulling her out of her chair. He sat down and pulled her into his lap. "You give up battling with the grill?" He smirked and said, "Ashley is a chef in Manhattan. I knew if we goofed around with it, she would eventually kick us out of the way and take over." Steph looked at him and gasped. "You rat fink. I'm going to go tell her." She started to get up but didn't get far when Ranger snagged her around the waist and pulled her back down onto him and started to tickle her. She started laughing and had tears streaming down her cheeks from laughing so hard, but he didn't relent.

From across the deck, Jeanne Ellen sat watching and when Lester caught her eye, she raised an eyebrow and looked back at Ranger and Steph. Lester smiled and walked over to her. He plopped down onto her lap and she grunted. They shifted around and then she was in his arms, sitting on his lap. "So what's up with those two? I jokingly said to Steph that she had it bad for Ranger but she blew it off, saying that he only thinks of her as entertainment. What the hell does that mean?" Lester groaned and said, "He let it slip one time to her that his accountant puts all of the cars he gives her under entertainment in his budget. He's such an idiot." Jeanne Ellen stared at him and said, "What?" Lester went on to explain the whole give Steph a car and soon after it will blow up, get crushed or something else disastrous would happen to it. "Ranger didn't stop giving the cars to her, but his accountant was livid so Ranger made him rearrange his budget to cover the costs of the cars. I didn't realize he told her this information." Before Jeanne Ellen could respond, Ashley yelled that the food was ready.

They all made plates from the great selection of food and drinks were passed around and Steph was pleased to see that Ranger had a bottle of beer. She was interested to see if Ranger would drink enough to loosen up his mouth so she could find out more about him. Everyone was curious about her and once Lester got started on the Bombshell Bounty Hunter stories, she just let out a big sigh, grabbed a towel and headed down to the beach. She laid the towel out and stripping off her shirt and shorts and down to her bikini, laid down and let the sun do its job.

She wasn't there long before someone sat down next to her. Opening one of her eyes part way, she saw that it was Ranger. "Babe, you okay?" She closed her eyes again and just said, "I guess. I just wish that I could go somewhere new, meet new people and not be known as Bombshell." Ranger reached over and moved a stray curl off of her face and said, "Do you want me to kick Lester's ass for you?" She laughed and said, "No, don't kick Lester's ass. It's too nice of an ass to be harmed." Ranger was quiet and she thought she had upset him. Before she could say anything, she was being picked up and when she opened her eyes, she saw that Ranger had taken off his shirt and was racing toward the ocean with her in his arms. She screamed and laughed the entire way and when she surfaced after being tossed in the water, she noticed that most of the group was headed their way, stripping off shirts and shorts along the way.

Ranger dove in next to her and came up with his arms around her. "Babe, please tell me that you don't really think about Lester's ass." She laughed and said, "Ok, I don't think about Lester's ass." He let out a breath and leaned down to kiss her when she said, "I think about all of the Merry Men's asses." He growled and instead of kissing her, he picked her up and threw her farther out into the water. She came up spitting water, laughing and launched herself at him. "I think about your ass the most." They battled for a few minutes, before someone on the beach yelled about starting a volleyball game. Most of the guys headed back in to start the game and Steph headed back to her towel to watch. She was soon joined by most of the other women and they all admired the view from the game, and what a sight it was to see.

Steph heard someone calling her name and she shook her head to clear her thoughts of what she had been staring at for a few minutes. "Huh?" The women all laughed and Sarah said, "I understand where your mind was, it's where mine goes every time we all get together. It's a lovely sight to behold, isn't it?" The women all agreed and they all watched the game and asked questions about Steph and Ranger, trying to get out information from Steph, without it seeming like they were interrogating her.

As the afternoon progressed, some of the guys and their women ended up back in the water or up on the deck. Steph was left alone on the beach for a little while before someone sat down next to her. She looked over and saw Drew sitting next to her. "Hey, how's it going?" she asked. He looked at her and said, "How do you fit into this group? You don't seem like the military type, no offence." She laughed and said, "No offence taken, I'm far from the military type. I work with Ranger and Lester sometimes at Rangeman. I'm a BEA and Ranger was my mentor when I first started." Drew smiled and said, "So, he was Henry and you were Eliza?" Steph laughed and then started talking.


End file.
